The Ideology of Rivalry
by Sylindara
Summary: The no.1 and no.2 sniper in the early days. Touma doesn't show up at practice; Narasaka goes to find him.


A lot of my headcanon for Touma and Narasaka and why Touma skips practice and why the specification on being one of the top 15% of all snipers in Border to reach B-rank. Right now, I have hope that Ashihara won't touch on any of this in canon, otherwise this will be so jossed.

* * *

Narasaka found him in one of the small lounges that dotted the Headquarters of Border. This particular one was situated awkwardly in one of the out-of-the-way corridors that made it supremely unpopular. For anyone not Touma at least.

Narasaka narrowed his eyes and took up position looming over Touma's face where he laid, stretching out on the small sofa. The sleeping mask over Touma's closed eyes would suggest that he had no way of seeing Narasaka or his forbidding expression, but Narasaka knew he was awake.

"What are you doing here, Narasaka," Touma groaned, first to break the deadlock. Touma was always the first to break the deadlock; despite being no.1 sniper, he didn't have the persistence to stick to one course of action. Or as Touma would say: 'Why should I keep at something I don't know will succeed or not when I can win if I choose a different way?' It was the fundamental way in which they differed, and the fundamental reason why Narasaka couldn't defeat him – according to Touma.

"You haven't been coming to practice," said Narasaka accusingly, keeping his expression stern as Touma flung his sleeping mask onto the coffee table and sat up.

"Yeah, so?" Touma rolled his eyes. "You my mother now?"

"You haven't been coming to practice ever since they implemented the new conditions for the sniper trainees to rise to B-rank," Narasaka rephrased.

Touma looked at him for a moment, sighed deeply, then sprawled deliberately against the back of the sofa. "Yeah, isn't it ironic; after so much squabbling over what direction snipers should focus on, I win and now I can't even wallow in it."

'Squabbling', Touma had called it, even though the two of them – given full responsibility to aid the creation of sniper regulations as the head of the snipers – had come close to physical violence more than once over the course of the decision-making. Now that they were getting enough sniper trainees for it to matter, Narasaka wanted to focus the training and the conditions for advancement on supporting the team; Touma wanted it to be a shooting game. As a compromise, it was decided to make part of the conditions being in the top 15% for three weeks, mostly to stop Narasaka and Touma from actually killing each other. But both of them knew it was Touma's win. As long as he was no.1, as long as he kept winning, his way of sniping was the superior one. That was how it goes.

"So what, this is your pity? It'd be so much harder for the trainees to rise to B-rank now, so I'd better ease up and put myself out of the running?" Narasaka could feel his lips curling into a snarl.

"I have no interest in targets I know I can hit, that's all there is to it." Touma shrugged easily, staring into Narasaka's eyes. "It doesn't matter; I don't need to show up to practice to beat everyone." To beat _you_ , he didn't say, but Narasaka could feel the words against his skin.

"You are the no.1 sniper," Narasaka noted coldly, "you are the model all of Border's snipers base themselves on, you-"

"I am a genius," Touma said simply, without his habitual irritating air. "I am a concept for them to aim for; they don't need to reach my level because they can't. And for people like you," Touma smirked wickedly, "that just makes you chase me all the more, no matter how impossible it is."

"Not just chase you," Narasaka said helplessly, "one day I will overtake you." He couldn't believe otherwise.

"Of course you will," Touma said easily, disbelievingly, a cocky smile on his face. "Go to all the practices, Narasaka, place first on the practice rankings. Be the model they can actually reach. No.1 is the genius and No.2 is the hard worker – that's the balance Border wants."

"Don't tell me what to do," Narasaka gritted out. He couldn't find the words for what he really wanted to say. The hopeless distance between the two of them, the way Touma's very existence repudiated everything about Narasaka and his sniping, and how it was the same for everyone. But worst of all was the possibility that one day another genius would appear who could actually fight Touma on his own turf – and that person wouldn't be Narasaka. He moved unconsciously, a hand coming up, and it wasn't until Narasaka was staring at his own fist wrapped in Touma's large palm – barely centimetres from Touma's nose – that Narasaka realised what happened.

"You are so high maintenance," Touma said patronisingly. Even this couldn't break his composure. Touma pulled at him, capturing his head and dragging him down for a noogie. "Don't be so stiff, Narasaka. I'm not doing this out of pity; this is for the good of Border – which is probably the only thing the two of us ever agree on. The trainees will do better with one less genius in the rankings pushing everyone else down, and you'll actually be able to win at something. Of course, I'll still be no.1; you can't beat me in a real battle, and as long as that holds you'll stay no.2."

Narasaka screeched once in indignation, then hung limp as Touma went through his speech. Narasaka didn't have the leverage to get out of Touma's hold; as the top snipers, they knew enough of the basics of close range combat.

"Don't give up when you haven't lost yet," Touma said quietly, hand too gentle for a true noogie. This was how he petted cats. "I haven't given up on beating you after all."

"Even though you already beat me," Narasaka said into Touma's arm.

"Even though I already beat you," Touma agreed. "I respect my opponents, and you are my best opponent, Narasaka."

Narasaka finally stepped away, out of Touma's reach. "I don't need this pity either."

"The day I pity you for being my opponent is the day I put up my sniper trigger for good," Touma said solemnly, staring straight into Narasaka's eyes.

Narasaka sighed, turning away. "Come to practice sometimes, even you can't beat me if you don't have any points from practice at all."

"Look forward to me stealing your place on the practice rankings then," Touma called out to Narasaka's back, confidence extruding from every pore.

Narasaka looked back once at the doorway, smiling for the first time in what felt like a long time. "You can try."


End file.
